By Sarah Santacroce at Simplicity
Recently my friend Anna from 360 Entrepreneurship asked on her LinkedIn group: I wonder if anyone in the group knows what the rules are for using images that are not your own, on blog, Facebook etc… To keep us out of trouble.
It’s a very valid question, because we all know that a blog post looks nicer with a featured image and pictures are the most shared status update on Facebook.
Well, the answer is pretty straight forward: if you use an image which is not your own, it is considered theft ! If you don’t own the right to an image, you need permission in writing to use it. That can be an e-mail from the owner, or, if you download the image from a picture library, you have to agree to the “Terms of Use or License”.
So where can you get photos legally ?
I’d like to mention 3 free options and then give more details about one 1 paid option:
FREE
http://www.morguefile.com/
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/
http://www.sxc.hu/ I just recently discovered this one and it has become one of my favorites within a couple of weeks (the above picture comes from there too)
PAID
Istockphoto has a wide range of Royalty Free images. I find the pictures of high quality and depending on the image, the price is reasonable. You do have to be careful though because prices vary from one picture to another. Picture pricing for Istockphotos ranges from $0.95 to $1.52 per image depending upon the buyer’s potential and subscription he goes for.
Istockphoto is based on a credit system. You charge your account with a minimum amount of $18.25 which can then be used to pay for a single purchase of 12 small images at a price of $1.52 each or 2-4 images depending upon the size and prices.
Even here always read the fine print and only use the downloaded images according to the terms of use.
Author's Bio
Sarah Santacroce is a certified social media, internet marketing, and virtual event specialist. She enjoys every aspect of small business marketing. It is her mission to help other small businesses and solopreneurs increase their visibility and use social media tools as part of their marketing strategy.
Sarah draws on 12 years of experience in Business Administration, in fields ranging from Employee Training to Public Relations at big and small companies. She became interested in Online Marketing and Social Media to promote her own business and after lots of research and numerous classes and webinars she is now offering that knowledge to other small- to mid-sized businesses who struggle to find their place on the web.
This article is the third in a series of regular contributions that Sarah has made to her guest blog on knowitall.ch. You can see more articles from Sarah on her own website at: www.simplicityadmins.ch
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